What Went Right And What Went Wrong With WrestleMania 32

WWE presented it's signature event of the year in Dallas last night, Wrestlemania. From my perspective, there was little to gripe about when it came to presentation. WWE kept the weaker segments short, didn't "try too hard" to force celebrity interactions to happen and allowed some of their most talented performers on the card to excel. However, as with most of WWE's biggest events in the last decade, there was ONE giant elephant in the room at the end of night. Here's a quick rundown:

WHAT WENT RIGHT:

Intercontinental Title Ladder Match

Strong opening to the show. One complaint going is was that nobody could see Sin Cara, StarDust or Zack Ryder winning the title. But after a crazy spotfest with some really crafty stuff thrown out there (including Sami Zayn jumping through a ladder onto 5 guys) Zack Ryder walked away as champ in one of the biggest surprise twists in Wrestlemania history. Hopefully, this means a push for Ryder. What it likely means is Ryder will be challenged tonight by Kevin Owens and lose. There could be worse things.

A flashback to the attitude era

Having the New Day lose to the completely vanilla and uninteresting faction known as the League of Nations would seem like a major misstep on WWE's part but they managed to turn the entire segment around by having Shawn Michaels, Mick Foley and "Stone Cold" Steve Austin come out, deliver their signature moves, wipe out LON, and then celebrate by drinking beer and dancing with New Day. Nostalgia factor high for sure, but damn was that fun.

Dumping the Diva's Title, and letting the women shine. 

Charlotte, Becky Lynch and Sasha Banks had what was easily the best women's professional wrestling match in Wrestlemania history. Charlotte winning was a mild surprise, and the build-up certainly seemed to suggest a payoff for Sasha, but it's not without merit. This should lead to the call-up of Bayley from NXT as the next viable contender to balance things out. With the utterly stale term "diva" a thing of the past, the women's division in WWE should have an opportunity to thrive.

Shaquille O'Neal in the Andre the Giant Memorial Battle Royal

Wait, what? Shaq's inclusion in the battle royal was a total left turn, but was one of those celebrity appearances that didn't feel forced and awkward. Shaq going face to face with the Big Show was a fun moment and the eventual winner of the contest, Baron Corbin, has the potential to be one of 2016's breakout stars.

They've broken Shane McMahon in half

Shane McMahon and The Undertaker are a combined 100+ years old but still managed to easily have the match of the night and perhaps one of the 5 greatest moments in Wrestlemania history. You could argue a lot of the match was a slogfest building towards some pre-planned big spots, but it wasn't unsatisfying or unbelievable. Storyline wise, the payoff didn't feel like it was there but you could understand why the Undertaker wasn't going to lay down for Shane. Oh and back to the WWE breaking Shane in half. Do you know any other men or women worth nearly $300 million dollars who are willing to do this?

WHAT WENT WRONG:

The show was too damn long

6 hours? I'm a huge wrestling fan and even I had a hard time paying attention or caring for that long. Tighten it up WWE.

Brock Lesnar's usage

I like Dean Ambrose. I think WWE doesn't use Dean Ambrose to the best of his abilities. But Dean Ambrose shouldn't have been Brock Lesnar's opponent last night. He's just not in Brock's league yet. Frankly, not many guys are. Lesnar is so superhuman in the ring, that his matches should always be one of the last 2 or 3 of the night and if they're not, you're using Brock Lesnar wrong.

Using Bray Wyatt as The Rock's jobber

In modern day WWE think, not scheduling Bray Wyatt for a match and having him being the "shocking" adversary to the Rock was good stuff. In reality, it was just another misstep and misuse of one of the only new and accepted characters WWE has created in the last decade. The Rock did not completely bury Bray, but his various jokes about Cracker Barrel, Duck Dynasty and cousin banging certainly tugged the line. But ask yourself this, what is the payoff here? Does Bray Wyatt face The Rock at next year's Wrestlemania? And if he does, will Wyatt win? Probably not. So what exactly is the point of having one of the most recognizable and over of WWE's "new" guard being tossed to a movie star who's WWE appearances are regulated by Hollywood? Confusing.

You've heard this before, the crowd doesn't like Roman Reigns

WWE ended their signature show last night with a whimper. Triple H and Roman Reigns buster their ass last night but throughout their 20+ minute affair, there were chants for NXT and Stephanie McMahon. You simply cannot end your biggest event by leaving a bitter taste in the fans mouths but that's exactly what WWE did. The malaise and disinterest of the fan base shouldn't have come as a surprise, as the overall reaction last night was indicative of all of what's been going on live TV for the last 3 months. And the WWE can feed JBL and Michael Cole all the lines they want about how Roman Reigns isn't a good guy or a bad guy, they can pipe in all the fake cheers or overly loud entrance music, they can even do closeups on one fan cheering, while 30 more are booing around him, it still doesn't change the fact that the crowd, the paying and viewing audience, as a whole does not want Roman Reigns as their top star. It's that simple. The WWE needs to address this and start fixing it tonight on RAW. Will they? Doubtful.